Jared Field | The Flint JournalTodd Hulliberger, pictured at his home in Birch Run Township, is awaiting a double-lung transplant. Todd suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, a debilitating, terminal disease that causes mucus to clog the lungs. Todd is holding a card he received from a young friend of the family. It reads: "I have hope."

BIRCH RUN TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- At just 30 years old, Todd Hulliberger endures the physical equivalent of running a marathon with just a trip up the stairs.

Hulliberger was born with cystic fibrosis, a debilitating, terminal disease that causes mucus to clog the lungs. The mucus causes infections which, in turn, create more scar tissue. Over time, his lungs have become too damaged to work properly.

That's why he's at the top of the list for a double-lung transplant.

"If you or I went and ran a mile, that's how he feels just getting up," said Hulliberger's wife, Lisa.

"And then add pneumonia," he interjected.

Until a year ago, Hulliberger, a graduate of Kearsley High School, was living a normal life. He enjoyed working outdoors, hunting and playing golf. That all changed last summer when his condition advanced quickly, relegating him to the indoors, full-time oxygen and a steady stream of intravenous antibiotics.

By the time December rolled around, he had prepared himself for the worst.

"It happened pretty quick," he said, donning his "Todd has hope" cap. "To be honest with you, when you feel as bad as I did, you almost want to die; and that's hard to say.

"It looked like curtains for me; it wasn't good."

His wife said that, at the time, she began preparing mentally for life without her husband.

"I mean, obviously I wasn't voicing it to him, but I just started telling myself that it was a possibility," she said. "The hardest part was just watching him."

Lisa Hulliberger, a dental assistant in Flint, said she didn't understand the importance of some of the little things in a relationship until they were gone.

"You don't realize how awesome it is just to be able to come and go," she said.
Todd Hulliberger, who was forced to shutter his real estate business after his most recent flare-up, is still adjusting to the sedentary life.

"It's been really tough because I was active; I want to be active. I don't want to sit around," he said. "Before, I could go water skiing, bicycling and stuff like that, but as time goes on you just have to start eliminating stuff ... you adapt because it's all you know.

"My mind's good, but my lungs are bad."

He said there is no definitive timeframe for being matched with a donor, but that he has a four-hour window once a set of matching lungs is located.

Even with the transplant, however, his long-term prognosis isn't great. More than half of patients such as Hulliberger who receive the transplant live only five years after the operation. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Association, the life expectancy for people suffering from cystic fibrosis is 37 years.

"It isn't fantastic; I mean I'm probably not going to live to be 70 years old," he said.

But his wife said that statistics are made to be broken -- and he agreed.

"I'll be one of the patients who will live to be 50," he said. "I have hope ... I have everything I need to make this happen ... I'm just waiting."

While Hulliberger waits, family and friends prepare for a future with him. Those closest to him have organized a benefit for him Saturday from 5 p.m. until midnight at the VFW Hall in Davison Township, 9474 Lapeer Rd., to raise money to help them through the post-operation transition.

Tickets for the benefit are $15 per person and $25 for couples. Pasta, salad, beverages and dessert will be provided and a silent auction will be held.

The fundraiser is important because Lisa Hulliberger will be forced to leave her job for awhile to tend to her husband fulltime and will need help keeping the household finances in order.

"The support is huge," her husband said. "There are so many people who are behind us ... all these people are pitching in -- even people I don't know."

For more information on the benefit, contact Gigi at (810) 287-3848. To donate, visit Todd's home page.